THE CHRISTCHRUCH ELECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5489, 14 February 1896, Page 2

THE CHRISTCHRUCH ELECTION.

RETURN OP ME LEWIS. The poll closed at 7 p.m., at which hour j considerable crowds were assembled around most of the polling-places. Very shortly afterwards an even larger crowd assembled in front of the newspaper offices, where arrangements had been made for displaying the numbers as they were received from the different pollingplaces. Here, it may be remarked that there was rather more delay in obtaining these than on former similar occasions, as the deputy returning-officers had instructions to give information to no one until they had reported to their chief; and, therefore, the representatives of the Press had to obtain their information — until the time when the complete returns were made vp — from the scrutineers, where the latter were available. The first return, that from the Oddfellows' Hall, Montreal Street North, was displayed at twenty minutes to nine o'clock, and the final, which announced the return of the Conservative candidate by a majority of 412, was shown at five minutes to ten. The returns were received with cheers and counter demonstrations, but the large crowds which by this time filled the streets in the .centre of the town were good humoured ; there was no disorder, and an absence of rotten eggs. The friends of the successful candidate, Mr C. Lewis, were very jubilant. A large crowd gathered in front, of Mr Lewis's committee rooms in High Street, and he appeared at the second story window, and briefly returned thanks for his election. He was, he. said, espieci&lly^grutefvli to those who had hiini and as for those who had voted against him— well, they would be none the worse frionds for that, and they were' all his constituents. He hoped they would forget any little bitterness that might have cropped up, and that they would all go home good friends; and with that he. would bid them good, night. The address was received with cheers. Subsequently Mr Lewis, who was making his way through the crowd, wad recognised by some of his supporters, and escorted to the Hereford Hotel, from an upstairs window of which he addressed the gathering to a similar effect. He concluded by saving that he was very glad that he had won, and, as they had given cheers 1 for the successful candidate, he would ask them, like true sportsmen, to give three others for the losers. The cheers were heartily given. Mr R. M. Taylor thanked his supporters, in his committee rooms, for the manner in which they had worked for him; and cheers were given for him, and for the successful candidate. Mr T. E. Taylor returned thanks to a large gathering of his supporters from the window of his committee rooms in Cashel Street. He said that he regretted that the representation of the electorate had gone to a Conservative, as he still considered Christchurcn essentially .a Liberal constituency. He attributed his defeat to the use of money and undue influence against him, and said that he had no doubt that at the next election "their^ minority would be turned into a swamping majority. Some enthusiastic supporters of the successful candidate drove through the streets in a cab, expressing their delight by means of a bugle, a kerosene tin and other instruments, the notes of which were heard till a late hour. The following table shows the results at the different polling-booths : —

The polling on this occasion is somewhat lighter actually, and very much lighter relatively, than that at the general election. The number that then voted was 12,470, against 12,393 this time. At the general election, however, there were 14,682 names on the roll, so that the electors who did not vote numbered 2120. The roll used at the election yesterday contained the names of 17,559 electors, 5166 of whom did not take the trouble to vote. It may be noted that the counting of the numbers on this occasion was effected with much more despatch than on former occasions. A RUMOURED PROTEST, It was stated last night that a protest against Mr Lewis's return had been lodged by one of Mr T. E. Taylor's supporters, the ground being that the M to Z division of the polling booth at the Opera House was closed for about ten minutes while the deputy-returning-officer and his assistants went out to get some refreshments. THE NEW MEMBER. Mr Charles Lewis, who was bom in Christchurch, in 1857, is the only son of the late Mr David Lewis. He was educated partly at Christ's College and partly at Clifton and Malvern Colleges, in England. He returned to the colony in 1874, and learned farming as a cadet under Mr Duncan Cameron, at Springfield, and afterwards under Mr H. Overton, at Ellesmere. He subsequently went into farming at Brookside, and afterwards removed to Halswell, where he has lived for the last thirteen years. Mr Lewis has been a member of various local bodies, in particular the Halswell Road Board He has also been a member of the committee of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He takes a keen interest in sport, and has owned more than one winner at various race meetings.

i £ 1 * H . i , * h" S £ 3. 6 E* W A Provincial Chambers... 1,023 424 43010 1,837 Opera House 967 759 621 3 2,360 Sfc John's School ... 742 530 29314 1,519 Montreal btroet North 381 405 161 10 582 Richmond 255 ' aOS 90 1 481 Hibernian Hall 240 182 27812 712 Sydenham ... ... 332 677 55112 1,67 a Walthiun 80 177 306 4 567 Aldington ... ... 173 426 211 3 813 St Albans ... ... 361 283 73 6 723 Knightstown ... ... ■ 16j 234 182 6 682 totals Z. Ti 4,714) 4,392 3,15681 12*393